Chapter 9

Stella:

I stretch out feeling my muscles stretch and contract when I smell the most amazing thing.... mom has cooked waffles. I jump out of bed and skip from my room all the way to the kitchen where I find my mother just finishing the rest of the batter.

"Mmmmmmm Good morning mother! That smells absolutely exquisite!" I say this as I gulp down the wonderful fragrance. Mom laughs at me while she serves us both some waffles onto some plates. We go to sit at the table where she has already put my jar of peanut butter and the bottle of syrup. I get up from the table to grab some strawberries, my favorite waffles and peanut butter would not be complete without the strawberries. Next to my plate is a cup of iced coffee, 'mmmmmm my mom is the best she really thinks of everything!' I grab a small knife from the knife block and begin to cut the strawberries into fourths to go on my waffles when I feel this horrid tearing and then and insane amount of stinging. I quickly look down to see that there is blood EVERYWHERE.

"Ummmmmmm...Mom I cut my finger!" I say in a panic as my mom rushes over to me. She inspects my finger closely and quickly before she instructs me with what to do next. "Run your finger under the warm water to help to keep it clean I am going to go get the first aid kit." Mom quickly scurries out of the room, and I make my way to the sink and test the water to make sure that it is warm and not scolding hot. I let the water fall over my finger feeling the stinging as the water purifies the wound. 'Ugh come on Stella pay attention where is your head? I wish that there was some way that I could just heal this I really do not want to feel this cut for the next month. I have to pack for crying out loud.'

Before my very eyes I watch as the water starts running clear instead of running a tinged red from my finger bleeding. 'This is strange did I run out of blood in my finger.' I cautiously turn off the water and inspect my finger.

"MOMMMMMMM" I scream frantically. My mother rushes into the kitchen holding the first aid kit in her hands and she looks at me with deep concern in her eyes. "What happened Stella? Are you ok? Why did you turn off the water?" My mother asks panicked. I hold up my finger because I cannot even begin to describe what just happened. All I hear is the clatter of everything that my mom had just been holding hitting the floor and scattering as she rushes over to me to once again inspect my finger. This time when she looks at me, she looks so pale that she may faint.

"What did you do? How did you...?" she rambles on in a mystified tone. When I don't answer her questions, she looks up at me expectantly, waiting for the answers to the questions that she has just voiced. 'I don't even know how to tell her; how do you say Oh I don't know mom one minute was bleeding and the next this?'

I heave a sigh "Uh....Oh ummmm.... I have no idea to be completely honest mom. I have no idea what happened or even how this happened. I was just doing what you told me to do, running it under the warm water to clean it. I was thinking why I wasn't paying attention and how this is gonna suck to have to feel for the next month especially considering I still have to pack for my move." I rambled on. Mom cut off my thoughts,

"And then what happened? I need to know exactly what happened?" I sigh again, "Well I was watching the water that was tinted with red, when all of a sudden it just ran clear there was no red to tint the water, so I turned off the water and saw this." I hold up my finger. I watch my mother closely trying to understand why this may have been important. 'Why would any of this be important? How did this happen I don't even know that anything like this could ever happen.'

"Oh, my word! Ok we are gonna try something and see if I can understand exactly what just happened and why." she says this while she is filling a cup with some water. She looks as if she is in deep thought, and I wonder ideally what could possibly have her so distracted. She places the cup in front of me and now it is my turn to be confused. 'What do I need to do with a cup of water?'

As if she could read my mind she explains, "I want you to make this cup of water boiling hot. Not warm but like boiling hot." she says this with much curiosity. I look at the cup of water in front of me and then I meet my mother's eyes. She gives me the look that says hop to it we don't have all day. 'Oh, great it's official mom has lost her mind and it is all my fault.' I look at her again "Mom how am I supposed to make a cup of water boil? That doesn't even make any sense?" I ask her a little confused and worried for my mother's state of mind. She smiles warmly at me before she responds,

"I don't know hunny. Try to do what you did when you managed to heal your finger? I don't know what to think I wasn't in the room when it happened." She says this in an encouraging tone. Once again, I look at her then I look at the cup, 'Here goes nothing.' I place the tip of my first finger in the glass, 'boiling hot I wish that this water was boiling hot...' But nothing happens at all not even a bubble. I heave a heavy sigh,

"Mom nothing is happening. I...." I begin to say but she holds up a finger to tell me to wait. She takes the cup and quickly dips her finger in the water. "Holy shit you did it!" She looks at me proudly. I am so confused there is no way I had my finger in the water and I didn't feel anything it didn't even feel the least bit warmer. I grab the glass and place my finger in the water again to quickly yank my finger out....'What the hell it is super-hot. I didn't do that it had to be my mom.' "Mom, I didn't do that I didn't even feel the temperature change when my finger was in there at first you must have done it." I say accusingly. Mom looks at me with a smug grin on her face before she responds to me.

"If you think that to be true then we have one more thing to try..." She puts the cup of now boiling hot water in front of me. 'Ugh now what. I obviously couldn't make the water boil so what does she want me to do?' I look at her for an explanation. "Stella, I want you to make this water freezing cold this time. And I want to see if you can do it without having to actually touch the water." she looks at me with a look that says I dare you to do it. I breath in through my nose and out through my mouth to center my mind. 'Mom has lost it but I may as well give it my best shot'.

This time I put my hands on the outside of the cup instead of touching the water this time. I breathe deeply I feel so silly doing this. 'Cold freezing cold I wish that I could make this cup of water freezing cold' I close my eyes to concentrate. I open my eyes after a minute and glance down at the cup between my hands. 'What the actual fuck!' Mom quickly grabs the cup from my hands before I can even process what I just saw.

"Ahhhhhhh" My mother squeals with pure excitement catching me off guard making me jump. "You did it Stella! Holy shit you more than did it! You turned a boiling cup of water into a cup of solid ice! My baby can control water! What an amazing gift!" My mom hugs me a little too tightly. 'Oh shit...No way! This cannot be happening! This all is a dream. I'll be waking up any minute.' My curiosity flares once again,

"Hey mom, what are your powers?" Mom looks at me proudly again, "My power is certainly nothing this amazing or even maybe this noticeable as your power. My power is actually really hard to explain. I guess you could say I am like Lady Luck." Mom says this with conviction while she shrugs.

"What do you mean 'Lady Luck'? What can you do?" I ask with so much curiosity that I feel like I may just explode. My mother looks at me with a really sinister dark look and says, "I'm not sure how to explain it but maybe I can show you sometime..."